Shawn Bishop, Senior Communications Specialist (@shawnbishop)

The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) recently renewed accreditation for seven physical medicine and rehabilitation programs at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota. The 2016 CARF survey accreditation process involved two days of interviews, presentations, shadowing sessions and more. During the exit conference, CARF surveyors noted many strengths and practices that are integral to the high-quality care provided at Mayo Clinic.

Mayo staff members received praise for their dedicated leadership team, their impressive level of training, specialty certification and engagement, and their commitment to evidence-based decision-making. Mayo’s depth and breadth of continuing education and competency programs, and the spacious and state-of-the-art physical facilities and equipment were also recognized.

The Brain Injury Coping Skills (BICS) Program, which focuses on patient and caregiver support following brain injury. Caregivers and patients who participated in this program noted the following outcomes: a significant improvement in caregivers’ ratings of patient behavioral control when evaluated using the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale; a significant improvement (from 11 to 33 percent) in patient Satisfaction With Life Scale ratings, and a significant increase (from 8 to 42 percent) in patient use of common coping strategies; and a significant decrease (from 60 to 33 percent) following treatment in the number of caregivers who rated their perceived burden of care as “high.”

Collaboration between Mayo Clinic’s Spinal Cord Injury Team and Plastic Surgery staff to reduce pressure ulcers. Patients who were seen preoperatively for all recommended consults, including rehabilitation assessments, and optimized for surgery had improved outcomes compared to patients who did not receive preoperative intervention. Hospital length of stays decreased from 33.05 to 10.72 average days, and hospital readmission rates decreased from 12.70 to 4.5 percent

Mayo Clinic, the University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, recently teamed up to help advance research in the field of regenerative rehabilitation. Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, this collaborative effort is formally known as the Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation Research and Training, or AR3T for short.

The alliance’s overarching goal is to expand scientific knowledge, expertise and methodologies across the domains of rehabilitation science and regenerative medicine.

With a strong emphasis on accelerating scientific progress and minimizing disciplinary barriers, the alliance will provide the following:

Research support and opportunities. AR3T is building a multi-institutional network of laboratories to conduct research in stem cell biology, biomarkers, tissue plasticity and regeneration, and regenerative medicine therapeutics.

Pilot funding program. Designed to promote the development of novel regenerative rehabilitation paradigms with the potential to improve patient health outcomes, the AR3T pilot funding program encourages collaboration and provides opportunities for junior investigators to expand their research skills.

For more information about AR3T, its offerings and funding eligibility, visit the AR3T website.